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Tuesday, 3 September 2013

White Dwarf September 2013

The Big release is here, at least in the
eyes of Games workshop. The boys who bring in the money are having a new codex
so that spells good news for games workshop. So what does this month spell for the
space marines? Well let’s go through the new white dwarf and see
what we can find.

Well on the cover we have a picture of the
new Centurions. These guys come in two variants, Devastator and Assault and
while they look like very interesting models I was more interested in the fluff
behind them and how they can explain them away. Both of the centurions have the
same warsuit which bulks them out and makes them practically a dreadnaught. Now
the rules of these guys I’m not sure about but from what I hear they can shoot
two weapons a turn and are hard to crack. That’s all well and good, but what’s
the background? Well the devastator variant are explained away by saying when
marines are needed in a tight area of battle to destroy tanks, bunkers and all manner
of fortifications battle brothers from the devastator company are chosen to don
the mighty centurion warsuit. The same is true for the assault squad but the
chapters most expert close combat combatants are chosen for the job. So that
job would fall to the veterans I expect for the assault role, who else would be
the ‘expect at close quarters’. However if I cast your eyes back to Mr Wards 5th
edition space marines codex, before a space marine can join the tactical squads
he must ‘complete several campaigns in both assault and devastator squads’
(page 59) meaning that assuming they keep the background the same (I pray they
change it back to tactical first, dev and ass later) you have marines fresh out
of a scout company fighting in a big rare and powerful warsuit? That’s not
right in my mind at all. Possible background clash.

The next big thing is the new AA tanks, the
Stalker, which has two independent Icarus stromcannons, which can target
different units apparently, and the Hunter, the AA tank which has been in epic
since always, shooting missiles. The hunter I love, it makes sense, it fits
into the background, it sounds balanced. The stalkers, while it’s a cool idea
right now it sounds over powered to hell. Unless it’s over 200 points any tank
which can shoot down 2 flyers a turn sounds like a terrible design idea. Maybe I’m
just screaming the sky is falling but as of right now, I’m not happy with the
idea. Granted the model looks bloody amazing, but I’m not happy.

Repacks and new models of older units are
all that’s left for the marines. New version of the tactical squad which is predominantly
the same with a few extra weapons added in. Plastic sternguard and vanguard veterans,
which look beautiful, and have a lot of extra weapon options. A new Captain,
Librarian and Chaplin which look good, but I have to say the librarian stands
out the most. Truly a grand model. What
surprised me was the return of the grav-gun (it used to be called the graviton
gun in 2nd edition) which sounds rather deadly but it’s only a
single gun, it’s always good to have more options on the battle field and I welcome
its return immensely. From the battle report it is ap 2 and wounds people
depending on their armour so a scary option to face if your marines. Also worth
mentioning is that we got a lot of new heads for marines, not just bald head 1
and 2. Marines are starting to get hair back, which is nice, but it shouldn’t
be too long otherwise they may start having helmet issues.

Army of the month is a very painstakingly
converted Chaos Ogre army. It looks great and each unit is dedicated to a
specific chaos god. IT does look good but its not my personal taste for background
reasons. While yes ogres can be mutated, the background has them being one of the
most resistant to chaos (along with the Halflings!) so having a while army of
chaos ogres just screams unlikely to me. Yes its beautiful, and yes I would
love to play against it but I wouldn’t have an army like it. Just personal
preference.

The battle report shows off the marines take
on a combo of deathguard and daemons of nurgle. It show cases off the new units
quite nicely and how deadly the new units can be. However it also shows that
they aren’t perfect, and can die like everyone else. Surprisingly they use a
rule book mission: The relic and the marines actually lose. I don’t know why
but this report seems a lot better than past ones, something about it captured
me and I enjoyed reading it. Strange how when they have marines in the battle
report they actually make it a good read with decent photos like when the chaos
space marines first came out.

Vetock talks bollocks again but Johnson
talks about something interesting, how he goes about making new rules for
units. Now I personally believe that Johnson writes brilliant codex’s which are
relatively balanced and fun, not prefect but no one is. So this was a very nice
read which will carry on next month (they like stringing you along). What
surprised me was NO BLANCH SHIT!!!! They dropped the article this month and
replaced it with marine stuff, don’t care, its something different to read. We get a fair few pages of what you can do with the new marine kits which i quite like, and we are getting a heavy flamer for tactical squads! awesome for Salamanders.

We get a lot of how to paint marines and
what you can do with the new kits but over its entire not great. At the back of
the magazine we get a beautiful close up of the Horus heresy Erebus model which
I am going to have to buy, it’s just such a great model. I will find a use for
it.

Battle ground this month is a damaged research facility and it has some rather simple conversion bits and still looks amazing. This is the sort of battleground it should show off, something achievable with a little work and dedication (plus a little money, but hay, you don't play this game because you like your wallet). Its mainly a combination of bastions and city ruins. It shows off damaged bastions/bunkers and a wall of martyrs with a massive creator in it. Very nicely done.

The rest of the mag is just adverts,
displaying models, and repeats in content. Honestly I expected more for the
marine release and maybe an extra new unit. But with the black templar’s getting
folded into the marine codex, I shouldn’t have expected too much.

1 comment:

If the rumors about the new Anti-Air tank are true it shouldn't be that overpowered. None of the variants have Skyfire and if the icarus want to shoot at 2 different targets it's resolved at BS 2.

And as far as the hunter is concerned again no skyfire so either a lucky 6 or then a 5+ next turn. And if you wanted to shoot at the same flier twice for 2 of the 5+ tokens that might be overkill so its a gamble. It's bizarrely balanced for something out of a space marine codex.